Please Poop!

[Kelly]

Yep he is a dwarf. When the vet has to tube him, instead of holding his head still and level, they have to hold his chin out & up high to get the tube down ooh yeah, he has a severe underbite, but his back teeth are perfect… well, they line up nicely. He has pooped twice today since 10:45am. He seems to be just fine now, I will go check on him again before I go to bed…

 

[HersheyMint]

I hope Thunder is better today

 

[candycar]

my experience with lots-o-colic. Something to check into.

Need to Vent. Many colics, no answers

 

[Kelly]

Thunder is just fine this morning, he was a little pooping machine last night

 

[Kelly]

I was just thinking…. Do y’all think there could be a correlation between me giving him sand clear and colic?? I give the sand clear once a month. And I noticed this time and the last time he coliced that I had just FINISHED giving him the sand clear. About 2 days later he coliced in both instances. It could be coincidence though. I’m not sure about the other times he coliced, I will be paying more attention going forward.

I did give him sand clear last month with no issue…hmmm…

 

[Taz]

I don't know but I'd watch and write every change down for now. Do you have another shot for him in case?

 

[Abby P]

It's possible that the psyllium was relieving some irritation and stopping it made him more sensitive? I have Rowan on psyllium daily and it seems to really help a ton with his fecal water tendencies. I think it is soothing. It probably doesn't do as good of a job at removing sand if you feed it every day vs. on and off, but I think it still relieves irritation in the gut.

 

[Kelly]

Do you have another shot for him in case?

Oh yes, I have 3 or 4 more shots for him. If needed I can always get more, I know where my vet lives… right next door I’m just so glad the shots worked!! I was a nervous wreck putting that needle in his neck!! That was my first time ever giving a shot, but he was in so much pain he didn’t seem to mind at all. Then he acted a little drunk

I would have not thought to give psyllium daily, interesting Abby.

 

[Abby P]

It can't hurt to try! I don't give the same dose as you would for a sand purge - I think it's half of that dose. For the stuff I feed (Equi-Aid) the horse purge dose is 5oz a day and maintenance is 2.5oz, so I am giving Rowan 1oz by weight (I think), figuring he's about 1/3 of a horse. You'd probably do even less with Thunder because he's so tiny!

I used to use just plain psyllium husk which is cheaper and easy to mix into other feed if it's wetted down - but because I board and they only do dump-and-run, I had to find something that's a pellet. Some of them have a bunch of sugar in them, this doesn't, I ate some to make sure.

 

[HersheyMint]

It's possible that the psyllium was relieving some irritation and stopping it made him more sensitive? I have Rowan on psyllium daily and it seems to really help a ton with his fecal water tendencies. I think it is soothing. It probably doesn't do as good of a job at removing sand if you feed it every day vs. on and off, but I think it still relieves irritation in the gut.

Abby, What you wrote about fecal water tendencies, has my attention. I didn't know how to describe it. Formed, mushy and a bit watery? It sounds like what Hershey has had off and on over the last few months. I give him psyllium once a month now So, you find daily psyllium helps with that?

 

[Abby P]

Right, you have formed/not cow patty poop, but then liquid comes out either with it or right after it. There are a bunch of causes but it seems like the most common is stemmy forage. For a while, before I changed jobs and I was still able to go to the barn 4-5 days a week, I would just make sure to give him some hay outside of a hay net whenever I was there so he could pick through it himself, and that helped a lot but didn't solve the problem completely. I also tried giving him some hay pellets in with his grain, so he could get them every day, since some people said that just having a certain amount of non-stemmy stuff every day would help. But it didn't completely go away until I started the psyllium, and I have stopped the hay pellets with no noticeable difference. I will say I've also been pretty careful to avoid buying stemmy hay, and he has also gotten better at leaving the stems even when he's eating out of a small-hole net, he pulls them out and drops them on the ground.

I think it can be more complicated for some horses, hind-gut ulcers can be involved, etc. Oddly, pinto geldings are most commonly affected. One theory was that they tend to be low in the herd rankings and end up eating the worst hay but that doesn't make sense for my pinto gelding, who lives in his own private paddock! My Arab had it quite badly his whole life and psyllium helped him but not as much as it seems to help Rowan. He never colicked in the 17 years I owned him but he ultimately did die of colic - out of the blue, never had colicked with his new owners either until that one time, at 24. So, I wonder if he had hind-gut ulcers. Learned about that too late to be of any help to him, unfortunately. I wouldn't be surprised if he did, he was a high-anxiety horse.

 

[Kelly]

Oddly, pinto geldings are most commonly affected. One theory was that they tend to be low in the herd rankings and end up eating the worst hay but that doesn't make sense for my pinto gelding, who lives in his own private paddock!

Well geeeeez, I’m glad he isn’t a pinto Thunder might be a nervous nelly, one woman… doesn’t like people… kinda horse, but he is number one now that Shadow, I mean Cappy, is gone.

All this great info is WONDERFUL!!

 

[HersheyMint]

Thank you Abby,
I think I will try the daily psyllium. Both mine have been on alfalfa pellets and hay for a long time. Since this recently started about 3 months, maybe it could be the hay. There were some bales that had more dirt in them then I had seen before. I never would have thought of daily psyllium. I appreciate the info. I will keep you updated
Mint is my pinto and she is the nervous one but thankfully no issues with her.
Mari

 

[HersheyMint]

Abby, I'm happy to tell you I have given Hershey psyllium everyday for 2 weeks , and his manure has gotten so much better. I have not seen watery piles for the last 3 days. I feel I can relax now Thank you!
I've learned so much for all of you on this site.
Happy Thanksgiving

 

[Abby P]

Great news! So glad it worked!

 

[Kelly]

Speaking of my little dwarf Thunder, he coliced again last night. I was up just about every hour checking on him. I thought I was gonna have to take him to the ER at midnight, but luckily I didnt.

I gave him that shot about 8pm. Waited the 1 hour then checked on him. He still seemed too drugged up to me, so I waited another hour.

10pm: he didn’t seem 100%… me: “do I take him in, do I not take him in, oh God! What do I do?”

11pm: still didn’t seem 100% but getting better

midnight: me as I’m laying in bed: “Ok, if he isn’t almost 100%, I’m taking him in!” Luckily by now he has gotten better, still hasn’t pooped yet, but so much better now.

2:30am: We have poop! Poopy party

4am: Thunder: “God Lord Mom, why do you keep coming out here in the middle of the night turning the lights on and waking everyone up? Seriously!”

7am: We have poop again!! breakfast time and he is whinnying for me as usual.

What a night! Im exhausted LOL LOL


The others stood & slept by him all night cheering him on!

 

[Willow Flats]

Speaking of my little dwarf Thunder, he coliced again last night. I was up just about every hour checking on him. I thought I was gonna have to take him to the ER at midnight, but luckily I didnt.

I gave him that shot about 8pm. Waited the 1 hour then checked on him. He still seemed too drugged up to me, so I waited another hour.

10pm: he didn’t seem 100%… me: “do I take him in, do I not take him in, oh God! What do I do?”

11pm: still didn’t seem 100% but getting better

midnight: me as I’m laying in bed: “Ok, if he isn’t almost 100%, I’m taking him in!” Luckily by now he has gotten better, still hasn’t pooped yet, but so much better now.

2:30am: We have poop! Poopy party

4am: Thunder: “God Lord Mom, why do you keep coming out here in the middle of the night turning the lights on and waking everyone up? Seriously!”

7am: We have poop again!! breakfast time and he is whinnying for me as usual.

What a night! Im exhausted LOL LOL


The others stood & slept by him all night cheering him on!
View attachment 45940

Thunder!!!! So glad you are OK, but please quit scaring your poor momma! Kelly, you better take a nap today!

 

[MaryFlora]

So sorry, Kelly, that you all had to go through this! Sometimes we know absolutely to make that call for the vet, but other times are a real gray area and it is exhausting, as you said, to figure it out.

Thunder without any question landed in the right family. Hope he continues to do well!

 

[HersheyMint]

Scary moments!!! I feel your anxiety . I'm so glad he is feeling better

 

[Taz]

I'm so glad he's better!! Maybe put in a colic camera instead of a foaling camera?